Sunday, March 8th, 2015

It was presumed when the Buffalo Bills acquired running back LeSean McCoy from the Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday, in exchange for linebacker Kiko Alonso, that they would quickly sign him to a contract extension. They did so on Monday, according to multiple reports, which gives the Bills more salary cap flexibility for 2015 and McCoy a massive uptick in guaranteed money.

As first reported by Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, McCoy has reportedly signed a five-year deal with the Bills worth a total of $40 million, which includes $16 million in the first year and $26.5 million in total guarantees.

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015

The first blockbuster deal of the NFL offseason just went down, and the Buffalo Bills are involved. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bills have agreed to trade inside linebacker Kiko Alonso, a rookie sensation for the team in 2013, to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for running back LeSean McCoy, a two-time first-team All-Pro.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2014

Despite having an excellent running back tandem in Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller, the Bills have question marks at the position beyond the 2014 season. Both Spiller and Jackson can become free agents at the end of the 2014 season. Jackson will be 34 years old at season’s end and Spiller might command more money than the Bills will have the appetite to pay for a running back on his second contract

That made the need to address the running back position a priority this offseason because in all likelihood, either Jackson and/or Spiller will not be on the team beyond this season.

After they utilized six of their 29 predraft visits on running backs, the Bills tried to trade back up into the second round of the draft to select Ohio State running back Carlos Hyde, according to Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com. After the San Francisco 49ers struck a deal to move up and take Hyde off the board, the Bills struck a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles to acquire Bryce Brown—a player Buffalo had been negotiating to land for a year-and-a-half, according to Tim Graham of The Buffalo News—in exchange for a conditional 2015 fourth-round draft pick.

Saturday, May 10th, 2014

The Buffalo Bills continued to be aggressive by trading a future conditional pick, and swapping seventh-round picks, with the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday to acquire running back Bryce Brown. (Photo: Howard Smith — USA Today Sports)

During the Buffalo Bills’ predraft luncheon, general manager Doug Whaley was asked about the concern of the team “mortgaging its future” to be aggressive in this year’s draft.

“Depends on what you mean by mortgaging the future,” Whaley replied. “We give up our whole draft? You’re mortgaging our future. If we give up a second round or a pick next year, again it’s a calculated decision. I would say it all depends on the deal.”

If you read between the lines on that answer, Whaley was clearly thinking about giving up future assets to make moves in this year’s draft.

The Bills made their first “calculated decision” in Round 1 of the draft when they gave up 2015 first- and fourth-round picks to move up from the No. 9 overall pick to the fourth spot and secure Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins. They made another during Day 3 of the draft, when they traded a conditional 2015 fourth-round pick for Philadelphia Eagles running back Bryce Brown.

There is a strong possibility that Kevin Kolb will be the Buffalo Bills starting quarterback in 2014, at least to begin the season. While EJ Manuel is clearly the quarterback of the future, he is widely considered as raw coming out of Florida State and may need more time to develop before being put in to face NFL defenses.

The best attribute Kolb brings to the table while Manuel develops is that he has NFL starting experience on a team that needs it. In all likelihood, the Bills will feature 3-5 rookie or first-year wide receivers. Inserting a rookie quarterback with that much inexperience at wide receiver could be a recipe for disaster.

Kolb has started 21 NFL games and appeared in 32 total games. He carries at 9-12 career record as a starter. He has thrown for 5,206 yards in his career with 28 touchdowns and 25 interceptions. He has a 78.9 career passer rating and has completed 59.5 percent of his passes. He has averaged 6.9 yards per attempt.

There has been much stated about Kolb being sacked 57 times in his 15 games with the Arizona Cardinals. Considering Kolb was only sacked 20 times in 19 games with the Eagles, that looks to be more of an indicator of lackluster pass protection from the Cardinals offensive line. The Bills should offer Kolb solid protection after only allowing 23 sacks in 2011 (1st) and 30 on 2012 (10th).

It has been said that the best predictor of future performance is to evaluate past performance. By examining Kolb’s career from his college days as a Houston Cougar, and evaluating his career as a pro, we can have some idea as to what we can expect in 2013 from the 6 year pro.